Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban promised on Saturday, February 18, 2023, to maintain ties with Moscow and urged other European countries to do the same, as the EU tries to maintain a united front against Russia after its invasion of Russia. ‘Ukraine.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban promised on Saturday, February 18, 2023, to maintain ties with Moscow and urged other European countries to do the same, as the EU tries to maintain a united front against Russia after its invasion of Russia. ‘Ukraine.
“We will maintain our economic relations with Russia and that is what we also suggest to our allies,” the nationalist leader said in his annual State of the Nation address.
“We have only one choice left: to stay out of the war”.
“The Hungarian government does not consider realistic the idea that Russia would be a threat to the security of Hungary or Europe”, he added, denouncing a Europe “already at indirect war with Russia”. .
“We have only one choice left: to stay out of the war. It will not be easy as a member of NATO and the EU, because there everyone is for war,” he added.
An ambiguous position
Since the start of the invasion of Ukraine almost a year ago, Viktor Orban’s government has maintained an ambiguous position, refraining from criticizing Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Viktor Orban, who had close ties to Vladimir Putin before the war, is also refusing to send arms to Ukraine, instead calling for an immediate ceasefire and peace talks.
In his speech on Saturday, he criticized EU sanctions against Russia, blaming them for the skyrocketing inflation in Hungary, which reached almost 26% in January.
Viktor Orban likes to show his disagreements with Brussels, with whom Budapest has been negotiating for months billions of euros in funds intended for Hungary in exchange for anti-corruption reforms.
The Hungarian Prime Minister accuses Brussels of freezing these funds for “political reasons”, in particular for its opposition to sanctions against Russia after its invasion of Ukraine.
This is originally published on ouest-france.fr
